THE CRIMEAN WAR by R.L.V. French Blake. (8 1/2" x 5 1/2"; 181 pages; 16 illustrations; 13 maps and diagrams. Leo Cooper - £ 3.50P). This book is the first of a series of Concise Guides to various campaigns and claims to be one of the first modern books to describe the full scope of the War in the Danube area, Asia Minor and the Crimea. Having recently read a great deal about the Crimea, with all its unintelligent generalship, I was not too enthusiastic about tackling this book but very soon I found myself so entranced that I read it in one sitting! This is an excellent little volume, providing details of the War in parts of the world other than in front of Sebastopol, about which I knew little or nothing. In addition, its descriptions of the Crimean War as we know it are admirably and economically described so that I now have a far better picture of the battles than ever I had before. Particularly this applies to Inkerman, that muddled conflict which almost defies description but in this book it is excellently explained in a most ingenious fashion. I strongly recommend THE CRIMEAN WAR to all those wargamers who are attempting to fight battles in mid-lgth century. THE KING'S OWN by Howard Green (8 1/2" x 5 1/2"; 143 pages; numerous photographs and illustrations. Leo Cooper - £ 2.10p). This is another of the FAMOUS REGIMENTS Series and covers the colourful activities of a very famous British Infantry Regiment since their formation in 1860 to the present day. Like all of this series, the book is beautifully presented and, as are most of them, written by a former officer of the Regiment so that its contents are accurate and written with true and sincere affection. THE ARAB LEGION by Brigadier Peter Young D.S.O., M.C. (9 1/4" x 7 1/4"; 40 pages; many photographs; 8 full-page colour plates. Osprey -£ 1.25P). This is one of the "Men-at-Arms" Series, each of which gives a brief history of a famous fighting unit with a full description of its dress and equipment both in drawings, photographs and colour. This particular book is by a man who was once a Battalion Commander in the Arab Legion, a most colourful outfit which, so far as I am aware, does not appear on anybody's wargames table. It is about time that it did 9nA..:tbis book makes it possible. UNIFORMS OF THE PENINSULAR WAR illustrated by Colonel Frank Wilson, text by Arthur Kipling. (8 1/2 x 5 1/2"; 47 pages; 20 illustrations; 8 colour plates. Charles Knight -£ 1.50P). This is an excellent little book, giving every detail that a wargamer could want of the dress of officers and other ranks of British, French, Portugese, Spanish, King's German Legion, etc. The text is very explanatory although the excellent illustrations and colour plates speak for themselves. DETTINGEN 1743 by Michael Orr. (8 1/2" x 5 1/2"; 79 pages; 4 diagrams; 3 maps. Charles Knight, 90p). This is yet another in the series "Battles for Wargamers" and covers one of the most neglected victories of the British Army, It gives a valuable insight into how a war was waged in the middle of the 18th century and its illustrated details of line of battle plus tactical manoeuvres etc., would be of the greatest value to the wargamer. Like the majority of the books in this series it gives the extremely good description of the Actual battle but almost ignores its reproduction on the wargames table - not surprising because only a small percentage of the writers in this series are practicing and experienced wargamers. However, perhaps the wargamer will prefer to read the battle and sort out his own simulation of it - this book provides an ideal back-round source. MILITARY VEHICLE MARKINGS by Terence Wise. (8 1/2" x 5 1/2"; 70 pages; innumerable photographs and line drawings. Bellona Publications, 75P) This book will be of great value to the wargamer who is scratch-building or realistically painting vehicles for World Wars I and II. It covers Great Britain, the Commonwealth and U.S.A. in World War I; Great Britain, the Commonwealth, France, Poland, U.S.A. and Germany in World War II. Surprisingly Russia, Japan, Italy and to a certain extent U.S.A. did not use formation signs! . Crest deal of research has obviously gone into this book and as a ready source of reference would be difficult to beat it. DEVON AND EXETER IN THE CIVIL WAR by Eugene A. Andriette. (8 3/4" x 5 3/4"; 237 pages; 7 maps. David and Charles - £ 3.50P). Written by an American Professor of History from the University of Louisville, KY, this is a very full and comprehensive account of both the political and mi1itary events of the English Civil War in the Southwest of England. It is pure history and its battles are described without "purple passages" which tends to make them rather matter of fact. I did not find this a thrilling book but then I like to read and write about battles so that you can hear the noise and smell the smoke! If you want a very accurate and thorough grounding on the events leading to the Civil War in this area and what subsequently transpired then this is a source. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 122 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1972 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com